Sheep in Wolf's clothing
by troublesomeino
Summary: Ino hasn't talked or hung out with Shikamaru for almost a year. Then she's assigned to go on a mission with him? What happens when Shikamaru has to choose between Ino and Temari? InoShika Narusaku. Rated T for mild violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! First fanfic here. I really hope you guys like it- Comment and review!**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Sadly.

Fox in Wolf's clothing

"I'm so lucky!" Ino giggles as she and Sakura walk down a bustling street of Konoha.

Both Ino and Sakura had been assigned to an S rank mission not even a few hours ago, along with Shikamaru, Choji, and Temari. All five of them were to infiltrate the Sound village without being recognized, then steal back a scroll from one of the Sound's great libraries. Originally, the scroll had belonged to the Leaf village, and the Sound had stolen it. So, of course, the Leaf now had to take it back. As to what was contained on the scroll was a mystery.

"Lucky? How so?" Sakura asks, cocking her pink head to one side, questioning her tall, blond friend.

"You haven't guessed? This is the first mission in two years that all of team ten has been present on! And of course..." Ino says dreamily.

"That means Shikamaru," Sakura sighs wondering how her friend could be in love with such a lazy guy like him.

"Un," Ino grinned at her best friend, "Tsunade said the mission could last up to a month. You know what that means, ne, Sakura?"

"No. What?"

"It means that I'll have more time to be around him."  
Sakura was surprised. She expected her friend to say something like, 'It means more time for me to seduce him,' or something. "You're not going to try and seduce him, then?"

"I never said that! Of course I'll try to get him to love me back, but... Just being around him's enough for me. It's like that for you and Naruto, ne?"

"Un... But- Ino- I guess it's just that it doesn't sound like you to not try and make a move on him. With all the other guys you've been with- well..." Sakura dropped off at the end of the sentence.

"But if I jump all over him like I did with the others... Well, we might not be friends anymore. You know what I mean?" Sakura nodded. "I'll just wait and let life take it's course. That's all I can really do."  
"I guess you're right, Ino. Well, I'll see you tommorow!" Ino waved at her friend as she walked into her family's flower shop, the ring of the bell announcing her entrance.

"I'm home, Mom, Dad!" She yelled happily into the depths of the shop, back into where it adjoined her house. She waited a few seconds, then hung up her black bag on a hook behind the counter with the register on it. Then, she wandered back into her house to see if she could find her parents.

"Ah! Mom," Ino said cheerfully to her mother, who was sitting at their kitchen table reading a book, "I got a mission today, I leave tommorow."  
Ino's mother looked up from her book, and into her daughters bright blue eyes. "That's great, honey! Who else is going?"  
"The rest of team ten, Sakura, and Temari, that girl from the sand." Ino spit out the last name with contempt. She hated Temari. Not just because she spent too much time with Shikamaru, but because she was to overbearing, bossy, smart, stubborn, tall... Yup. In fact, the reason Ino hated Temari was because their personalities were almost exactly the same (and she was the only girl that was actually an inch taller than Ino, which maddened her to no end).

"Well that's great! It's the first mission team ten's been on all together for how long? Almost a year now," Ino's mom concluded, "Well, better get yourself ready. Dinner in half an hour, okay?"

"Un!" Ino hurried out of the dining room, through the living room, then up a flight of stairs, and finally into her room. She shed her clothes and hopped into the shower, turning on almost as hot as it could go, singing happily to herself as she washed her hair.

"Kitsune- shika- tanooki!" She chanted. It was something she made up for team Inoshikacho- As she saw them in animal form. Sure, people would have argued with her that Ino herself wasn't a fox, but a pig, while Shikamaru definitely wasn't a deer (a sloth, instead); but Ino was very sure of the fact that Shikamaru was a deer- not a sloth. Even his lineage and name thought so! As for Choji- the only thing she could think of him as was a cow or a tanooki. She definitely thought of him as a tanooki (not a cow. Choji might think she was calling him fat.)

Ino stepped out of the shower, wrapping her fluffy white towel around her tall, slim body. "Kitsune..." She sang softly, "Shika- tanooki!" Then remembering what her mother said, she hurriedly got dressed in a loose black tank top and a pair of loose sweats, then gathered up all of the things she might need for her mission tommorow- kunai, shuriken, explosives, a few mild painkillers, then set out her uniform.

_'All ready'_, She thought happily, then ran out of her room and down the stairs so she could help her mother set the table for dinner.

**Comment! Review! Please? Critisism? Please?**


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura picked Ino up at five fifty-three in the morning so they could head down to the main gates of Konoha.

They walked briskly down the desolate, dirt streets, talking about random topics, such as what they'd do when they got back, how they'd spend all the money they'd get from completing the mission...

They didn't even think once that they might fail. Or that one of them would die.

And that was a mistake.

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"Everyone set?" Shikamaru asked his team. As Captain, it was his job to make sure everyone was prepared for the mission before the took off. Everyone nodded, so he signaled for them to move out, immediately taking for the cover of the trees.

"We'll get to the Sound in about half a day. From then on, we need to act undercover as regular people, not ninjas. Got it?"

"But Shikamaru," Temari broke in, "Wouldn't it seem strange for five people traveling together to suddenly appear in the sound?"

"That's why we're going to act as couples," Shikamaru said. "That's our disguise."

"But there's five of us... So how's that going to work?" Sakura asks, "One of us is going to be by ourselves?"  
"Pretty much. We'll decide who's with who when we get there."

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**Ino's POV (present)**

My labored breathing fills the cool, damp air. My chest hurts from lack of oxygen, and my whole body feels numb for some unknown reason.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sakura asks, slowing down so she can run beside me, "I'm sure Shikamaru would let us rest if you tell him you're not feeling well."  
"I'm fine," I hiss through gritted teeth, the biting tone in my voice coming through stronger than I intended. "Sorry, but I'm not going to let him see my weak side." Sakura nods, her face blank and expressionless.

"Okay. Just tell me if you need anything." With that she picks up her pace again, leaving me behind to wallow in my pain.

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Shikamaru stops, landing gently on a thick tree branch; followed by Temari, Sakura, then Chouji. I stop behind them, on a smaller tree branch, collapsing against the trunk. I try to slow my heavy breathing and stand up shakily, then jump over to the tree branch all four of them landed on.

"-shouldn't be by themselves," Shikamaru says. I only catch a little bit of what he's saying, but I can guess what he's talking about. "That means Temari needs to go on her own. I'll take Ino, Chouji you watch out for Sakura. Got it?" Everyone nods. I nod too, pretending I heard the entire conversation.

"And remember," Shikamaru orders, "We meet the randevous we talked about earlier. Got it?" Everyone nods again, including me. "Alright. Let's go." Sakura gives me one last glance filled with worry, then she and Chouji jump away.  
I look over at Temari, who hasn't left yet, to see why she's still here. Shikamaru is gazing at her intently, a sparkle glittering in his eye that I'd never seen before. Temari looks the same way; madly in love.

Shikamaru loves Temari. And I have no part in it.

I clear my throat loudly and watch as they jump, startled. "Well, seeing as this is a _mission_," I say jokingly, hiding the tight pain in my chest behind a smiling mask, "I think we can pause this scene for later, wouldn't you say?" Shikamaru blushes slightly, and Temari just looks flustered.

"I don't know what you're talking about," She says haughtily, and with one last glance at Shikamaru, she's gone.

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Sometimes, I have to ask myself why I'm so good at acting. In the long run, it might be better if I wasn't such a good actress. Then I wouldn't have to fool myself and other people when I'm in pain.

And right now, I'm in so much pain, I might be better off dead.

"So you and Temari, huh?" I ask Shikamaru cheerfully, hiding the pain behind a mask again. He looks at me for a few seconds, then just nods. "How long?" He hesitates before he answers, as if he knows his response will hurt me. And oh how I wish he knew how much I wanted to cry right now because of him- but if he knew, he'd feel guilty. And then I'd be in pain again.

"Almost three months," he replies cautiously.  
"Wait ta' go!" I exclaim, patting him on the back, "You scored!" He stops walking and stares at me for a few seconds, then gives a weak smile.

"You're sure you're okay with... this?" He asks. I nod and grin at him, although I feel so much like crying. But I can't cry.

Ever.

Because I have to be strong.

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Me and Shikamaru stop walking once we finally reach the big, tan wall that signifies the entrance to the Sound. I look over at him, to make sure he looks like a normal peasant.

"You're good," I say. He checks me over, and gives me a quick nod of approval. So we start walking normally through the gate as if we're just normal people- as if we aren't carrying weapons under our disguise- as if one of them isn't completely heartbroken. As if.

As we walk through the town, I notice how completely different it is from the Leaf Village. The women hide their children behind them every time someone passes, cowering as if they're afraid of everyone and everything. I don't see very many men on the desolate, dirt streets- only a few that glare at us as we walk by. Tugging on the sleeve to Shikamaru's tunic, I nod my head towards a small, dark alley that might give us cover so I can talk to him about what's going on here. He pulls me over into the alley, and asks in a hushed voice, "You notice too?"  
"Yeah," I whisper, "I think we better rethink how we act around here." Shikamaru just nods. "So you glare at everyone," I say, "And I'll act really afraid." Shikamaru suppresses a lazy smile, but quickly wipes his face clean of all expression.

"Glare at everyone," He says seriously, "Got it."

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"They're not here yet," Shikamaru whispers as we arrive in front of the small, rundown hotel, "I hope nothing happened to them." _Actually_, I think, sighing internally, _You hope nothing happened to her._

"Yeah, me too. Should we go in?" I ask. Shikamaru nods, so I go ahead and open the creaky wooden door and step in.

The hotel was old- both on the outside and inside. The floors were wooden and worn, as were the walls, the furniture, and the beams that held the ceiling up. The check in desk seemed to be in better shape than the rest of the place, but the old lady behind it matched the rest of her surroundings perfectly.

"Hello," She said cheerfully, her aged, wrinkled face creasing as she smiled, "How many rooms?"  
"Just one, thanks," Shikamaru says, smiling back at her. The old lady winks at me.

"Do you want to pay now, or before you leave?" She asks sweetly.

"Before we leave," I say, smiling back at her. She gives us directions to our room, then turns back to the book at her desk. Me and Shikamaru walk through the painfully quiet hotel, both of us dwelling on words that were going unsaid. We get into our room, which matches the rest of the hotel- old and wooden. One large bed sits in the middle of the worn floor, and one lonely window looks out onto the empty streets.

"Should I?" I ask Shikamaru, nodding to the window, "A bird would work." Shikamaru nods, his forhead creasing with worry. Worry for Temari.

"Check the forest," He says after a long pause. I nod, and open the dusty window, searching the pale blue sky for any trace of a bird. Finally, my eyes rest on a scrawny Finch fluttering uselessly in the sky. I form a triangle with my fingers, and hold it up to the bird so I can peer through my fingers as I would a window. Concentrating all my chakra through the triangle, the sudden rushing feeling of the mind transfer jutsu seems to knock me out for a few seconds as I switch into the birds suddenly I'm up in the air looking down at the ground. I fall breifly as I adjust to my body, then quickly flap my wings, propelling myself towards the dark forest below.

K, that's it for now...

Sorry for taking so long to update! Having technical difficulties.


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